Cynique

LMAO THANKS, MEL! This clears up a lot of things. And the finger should be pointed directly at 2 men for any negative reactions to this picture. Their rationales for creating Viola's look are a lot artsy BS. I wonder if her black make-up man is gay. I think this is kind of a cruel ironic joke. I was wrong about most of my assumptions but i was right when i perceived Viola as being happy about something. What TIME should really be chided for is selecting Leslie Jones as an influential black woman when the only influence she wields is how she reinforces white people's view of black women as loud, brazen sexpots.

I just want to know if that picture which appeared on its magazine was taken by a TIME camera man specifically for the 100 most influential entertainers' cover. If this is true, then the point Kalisha is trying to make has validity. But i still think that that picture is not a recent one. I really believe that is an old picture taken at an event and because Time perceived it as displaying a woman who was surprised and pleased, thought it was befitting of someone who had just won something, and they used it. I also think that just as TIME read something into the picture, that many black people are also reading something into it, creating a whole scenario, convinced that TIME had her pose for this picture and tampered with it to make a caricature of black women. I certainly don't think Viola would be a willing participant in something that could be considered degrading. She's a big enough star to reject this. BTW, Where did Jamie Foxx get his inspiration from the over-the-top character, Wanda? Is this art imitating life? If you guys want to think that a dark-skinned black woman smiling broadly, wearing red lipstick is offensive and something to be ashamed of, then so be it. I stand by my point that though it is not a posed picture of Viola looking her best thanks to being groomed and made over, the Time picture picture is one of her looking the way she did and millions of black women do look. It is, what it is. i would sure like to get Viola's feed back.

i just noticed this post. i like #6 best because it has everything including a banner that catches the eye and clues that this is some kind of an award without even reading the lettering.

Your experience is not that uncommon. A lot of famous people are known to have said they had to leave their hometown or even their country in order to gain recognition or be taken seriously and appreciated. i admire and appreciate your dedication to helping and promoting blacks authors. Just so you know.

I was just thinking about my oldest son this morning while puttering around the kitchen. On my way back to my "cave", there was a knock on the front door. Guess who it was? My son. Twice last week i was either deciding to call one of my kids or was wondering something about them and right after these thoughts, they phoned. For me, this is a common occurrence and i know we all experience this type of telepathy from time to time. It's commonly called "thinking somebody up". I would consider this proof that ESP does exist but, as we have all concluded, it is something that has to be developed and that certain people have a better facility for it than others. ESP that is more fine-tuned would be about sending a specific message to another person. This would involve getting on each other's wave length and concentration on the part of the 2 parties. Trying to communicate with someone independently of their awareness of your doing this is a real test. But this does occur and we refer to this as the "something told me to" phenomenon. This is in the 'hunch" category. The human mind is a computer. in my dotage, i am experiencing dementia. I have a terrible time remembering the names of people and places, usually familiar ones that i see on TV. But what i do is feed into my subconscious mind, all of the "data" i know about the thing whose name i've forgotten and then let it go. Within a half hour the name will pop into my head. Something else i've started fooling around with for some unknown reason. i am right-handed but i will write something on a piece of paper, backwards with my left hand. i'll write a whole phrase backwards with my left hand. Then when i look at what i've written with a mirror, or turn the paper over and hold it up to the light. What i see is perfectly written. What's interesting is that what i see, looks nothing like my regular handwriting. I've always been somewhat ambi-dextrious but now i pretty much am. i recently had my eyes tested for a new pair of glasses. My right eye is "weaker" than my left one. When i wake up in the morning, i put one hand in front of my left eye and look at something; then i do the same thing to my right eye. Things look different between my different-eyed view of them. With my right eye, it's like i have x-ray vision and when lying there looking at my foot with my left eye covered, i can see the skelectical bone structure of my foot with my right eye. Maybe i'm an alien. Anybody else have similar experiences?

i lie. I have BlueCross/BlueShield Postal insurance, plus i'm covered by Medicare.To the medical profession i am a cash cow. At check-ups, i lie to doctors about symptoms, because for every little complaint they want to subject me to a barrage of tests or hospitalize me or prescribe a new pill. i'm now going on line and googling my symptoms, then taking over-the-counter-supplements and natural remedies recommended for my imagined and real ailments. i'm probably terminal with something but i'm leaving here on my own terms. i feel like i've earned that right (The last good friend of mine who passed in February, was doing OK but her doctors had her hospitalized and about a week later, she died. She walked in but was rolled out feet-first. Her kids swear she picked up an infection and got worse in the hospital and this was responsible for her death. ) Incidentally, this syncronicity i keep describing just happened when i was typing the word "medicare" in the first line of this post, Trump was talking on TV and he was saying the word 'medicare', while i was keying it. Go figure. Another example of the kind of lying i do, happened recently. My daughter gave me a dress for Mother's day and - i told l her i liked it.

@ Troy: I think children fare better in the stability of a 2-parent home. But i don't think marriage necessarily improves a relationship between 2 people and it may even stifle it. Which brings me to the point of having kids. Women shouldn't feel obligated to have children. If they want their freedom and their career and and a live-in or friends with benefits, then they shouldn't feel guilty about leading this kind of life. Once a woman has children, her whole life changes and if she isn't committed to making all the sacrifices motherhood involves, then she should not succumb to the pressures of society. Some women are able to be successful at both, but others lose their identity to motherhood and live through their children. My point is, a woman should have options and, of course, this includes the one of having a same sex partner.

This is what i meant by "benign" racism. i have a few white acquaintances who i consider racists because they voted for Trump and are pro-police, but we have similar interests in other areas that bind us. Incidentally, i think any white person who voted for Trump is a racist who hides behind their rationale for having done so. That's because i'm prejudiced.

I didn't say racism and prejudiceness were the same. Had i thought that i wouldn't have applied one term to whites, and the other one to blacks. But I certainly don't think prejudiceness is harmless.

I was married to the same man from June 1956 to June of 2006. he died from cancer a month after our 50th wedding anniversary. Unfortunately this in no way makes me an expert of marriage. My input would be to say that sometimes marriage goes through stages and either gets better or worse. And it helps if the 2 participants are mature adults, not children playing house. Back in the 1950s, getting married was something every girl wanted and expected. There was no shacking up and having babies outside of marriage was frowned upon. Even "shot gun marriages" were whispered about. i wed at 22 because that was the age all the women in my family did. My friends were all getting married and i met a guy who i had a lot in common with; who was "Mr. Alright". There were no bells and whistles or starry eyed love at first sight. But it did come at second sight. After taking the plunge, things didn't always go well due to growing pains. By the time we reached our 40s , with the kids out of the way, and money no longer a major problem, our marriage came into its own and became fun and exciting. i enjoyed and appreciated having him as a companion and a lover and somebody to go out with and have a good time, partying. i was glad we stuck it out instead of breaking up over a lot of silly things like some of my friends did. The final stage were just us trying to grow old gracefully, and i was there alone with him in the middle of the night, sitting beside his hospital bed, when he took his last breath. i squeezed his limp hand, kissed his parted lips and lost myself in a moment of silence. I had no regrets.

@Delano Do you think racism is exclusively about doing harm? Do you think prejudiceness is harmless??

I think I'm more of a perfectionist than an idealist, because i am hyper-critical. I am also a pragmatic existentialist who deals with reality. i agree with the power of hope in theory, but in reality i think what a person wants to happen may or may not happen whether they hope for it or not. When people's hopes don't materialize, they have pat phrases to fall back on: "it wasn't meant to be". or it was god's will", In a contest between teams or individuals, both sides are hoping for victory, but only one opponent will win. Was the winner better at hoping than the loser? Or simply have better skills? or did capricious luck play a part in the outcome. Who knows?

IMO, racism comes in degrees and, in its benign form, is wide spread. I tend to believe all white people are racist but they are not rabid ones. Pleasant, civil, white people who think all blacks look alike are racists. Ones who think all blacks have rhythm or are good athletes are racist.. Ones who want to touch your hair are racist. Ones who tread lightly around blacks because they don't want to appear racist, are racist. These racist types mean no harm. They know racism is wrong and choose not to practice it if nothing is to be gained by doing so. And this could apply to mixed couples. A white woman who has a bi-racial daughter is racist when she looks upon her child's nappy hair as an anomaly she has to try and tame. I think Donald Trump was born a racist because he was a child of privilege and wealth, circumstances that go hand and hand with racism and he is well qualified to use racism as a tool. i even think, Bernie Sanders is racist. He is paternalistic and patronizing and thought he knew what was best for blacks. Hillary Clinton, too, but she is shrewd enough to keep her racism in check. Black people can't be racists but they can be prejudiced and when it comes to white folks, they harbor many prejudices about them.. Everybody is bigoted to some degree. But, as we all know, not everybody can empower their biases.

@Delano Well, I don't agree or disagree with your brief summary of me because I've never considered myself a typical hard-wired Leo. A lot of things attributed to Leos don't apply to me or if they do I'm not Leo enough to strongly demonstrate them. I am a passive aggression person, more about reacting than acting. As for those dates, the years they occurred in were so long ago that i can't recall anything special that happened during those specific months. But thank you for sharing your findings with me!

I agree with Mel. And i disagree that we always know when somebody is trying to "clown" us, or do all African Americans instinctively know the back story about situations. Sometimes things are very nuanced and subtle and not everybody perceives the intent of words or images Or if someone is a paranoid, super-sensitive person, they see things that aren't there or misinterpret what they do see because their personality type is one that is not good at being objective. Because we are individuals who come from different circumstances and have different traits and tendencies, our reactions will vary but even if we just observe, what we see can't help but make an impression on us, and be processed by both our conscious and subconscious minds. The ultimate result is a person who has coped well or bad with what he has encountered in his life's journey.

I would think that one would have to believe in time travel in order to consider that the future already exists and is known by a Supreme Being, or by someone who has psychic ability. What if 2 different people in the same circumstances turn out to have a different future - because of the choices they made, - something which figures into the multi-verse theory, I guess. Or what if the future only exists a moment after the present? People frequently accuse me of being negative and urge me to be positive. Positive thinking as a powerful force is a dynamic that rarely works for me, on a personal basis. It's like I am being presumptuous to beileve i can influence a desired result by thinking it will materialize. When i doubt, I get better results because i have put it into the hands of randomness which gives me a 50/50 chance of it happening. Positive thinking does seem to work for other people and my experience may have something to do with my aura or with a negativity i have aligned myself with because for, some reason, i have become afraid to hope. Others think there are no coincidences and that everything happens for a reason. I don't think life is that orderly. It's chaos from which we try to extract order. I do, however, have a peculiar affinity for syncronicity. i've said this before but it happens on a regular basis, that when I am keying a word or even a phrase, that very word or phrase will be spoken on TV. The TV is right next to my computer. The same thing happens when I am reading the newspaper or magazine, the phrase or word I am reading is being said on the TV at the same time. My recliner is right in front of the TV. Life is a great mystery because the answers are trapped in the questions.

I'm glad y'all weren't bored by my self-indulgence in posting my akashic stream of consciousness, - a whole post about ME. . @DelanoI'd be very interested in your doing a reading on me. And i'd have no problem with you posting it here for all to see. Mel and Del; maybe you 2 were twins in another life. In addition to you all, i also have a kinship with, as well as a curiosity about my computer. Could it be like a psychic medium , a channel to the consciousness of others since it involves waves that traverse cyber space and pick up vibrations and transmit thoughts?? Sometimes, with me, keying replicates an automatic writing experience where words just flow from my brain to my fingers. Other times my computer seems to have a mind of its own and other times it's like it's an extension of me. I talk to it all the time, and swear at it when it messes up. it's like a husband. Good thing i avoid the porn sites. On 3 occasion, i have been pissed about something and have written an e-mail cursing out or telling someone off, only to have the completed letter suddenly disappear from the screen before i can send it. These occurrences spooked me so i had a change of heart about re-writing and sending the e-mail, which proved to be a good thing in hindsight. One of the emails had to do with my late 22-year-old grandson who was killed in a drive-by, and the church where the funeral was held, After the letter vanished, i wondered if my grandson had something to do with it, and I could just hear him saying, ."just forget it, Nana, What you wrote might upset my Momma cuz you known how much she likes that church she goes to." So i let it go.. Which was probably a good thing...

i think it's becoming obvious that in this entire debate, semantics are blurring, rather than clarifying responses and the message each one of us is attempting to convey is compromised by the disparities between one person's definition of a word as opposed to the other person's definition of the same word. So there is no common ground. This would seem to be the case when i responded to your request for which of the 2 posted pictures of Viola Davis looked more "natural". My idea of natural had to do with the first dictionary definition listed below and that is what my answer to your question reflected. Your definition of natural is more aligned with the 2nd dictionary definition of natural and this is your reference for saying i did not answer your "simple" question. These 2 definitions are the reason why i referred to "natural' as being ambiguous and i settled on using the word "better" in my response and i explained my reason for answering the way i did. With respect to both definitions, i can't give you an either/or answer because both pictures are natural on some level and unnatural on another. So, you 'll just have to abandon your role of being an arbitrator and settle for the rely i gave. NATURAL 1. existing in or caused by nature; not made or caused by humankind. 2. of or in agreement with the character or makeup of, or circumstances surrounding, someone or something. As for racism, i, for instance, have mixed emotions about SNL continuing to give :Leslie Jones a forum for portraying an overbearing, sex-crazed, loud black woman. For me, this irritation was exacerbated when she appeared on the show a couple of weeks ago, doing this routine. The audience who is practically all white love her antics and laugh loudly not with, but at her. But this character seems to come natural to Leslie and TIME magazine thinks her character is worthy enough to earn Leslie a place on the list of the 100 most influential famous people, We all know people who act like the type of sista that Leslie lampoons so we have to ask that since it is an authentic depiction, should we allow ourselves to be manipulated into defending or condemning SNL's enabling Leslie to glorify this type of black woman. SNL mercilessly skewers Trump and other political or pop culture celebrities, who make headlines in the news, so they don't really discriminate. i find Leslie's buffoonery offensive and over the top, It could be said, however, that she pushes the envelop and challenges blacks to be able to take a joke. Laugh to keep from crying BTW, there was a lot of protest about the cover of Lebron James recreating King Kong abducting a white blond blue-eyed damsel in distress, and i think rightfully so. But racism is just so pervasive and the white powers that be so in control. that you could make a living pointing out daily examples of it, as some black leaders do, thanks to malicious white corporate types providing them with grist for their mills.

@Mel Hopkins I co-sign to all of that good shit!

@Mel HopkinsWOW! How interesting! Thanks for the feedback i was just about to delete my post because i decided it was too rambling and probably of no interest to anybody but me. But I'm glad i let it alone long enough for your response. I definitely subscribe to how revealing eyes can be. i have had several similar experiences down through the years, whereupon eye contact with a new acquaintance or even a friend established a fleeting connection of familiarity. Especially men. And one great-granddaughter who is 6 holds onto my grandson's leg and hides her face when she's around me. And actually i don't like her too much, either. I find it noteworthy that i seem to have rapport with and am very often on the same page with you! As i said, there was something almost bizarre about the hostility between me and the Sara-person and there had to have been some kind of underlying reason for our mutual dislike. But i feel a kinship with you,Troy, Del, Pioneer, CDBurns and harry and several other posters who drop in from time to time, even if i don't always agree with them. Life is a strange.

LOL Is that directed at me? If so, the answers is: it makes me no difference whether a woman is attractive or not. That's her problem not mine. Presumably a plain but dynamic, compelling woman is as impressive as a beautiful one. But as you know or may not know, women do vet other women when the occasion arises. And, no, i am not purchasing a Viola doll or any other toy. i don't roll with being a groupie of celebrities. i just challenge arguments that make a lot of assumptions and present opinions as facts.

Much of what you say is true, Harry, but your hero, MLK was said to also be a womanizer who drank and smoke. Fortunately, he was not materialistic and was able to compartmentalize his life and remain true to his calling to uplift his people, always keeping his eye on the prize. My kinda guy.

I have been perusing my saved files containing material about accessing the akashic records, info which i now vaguely remember gleaning from the internet after a discussion about them on this board a long time ago. I am now pursuing the idea that these astral records, also known as "The Book of Life", are just waiting up there in The Universe to be downloaded into the computer of your psyche through meditation, introspection. and soul searching, and I have now become inspired to explore what, in my present incarnation, is influenced by my past existence. I suspect that i was a man in another life, and maybe a misogynistic one at that, because in this life. female drama queens really get on my nerves as well as possessive divas who think they should be worshiped and adored by the men who they demand to only have eyes for them. I am not particularly maternal, (and mothers who insist on breastfeeding their babies in public as if daring you to say something, fill me with revulsion for some reason. i haven't figured out what, in the past, would trigger this particular reaction in my present life.) i also am pondering if my reason for being so adverse to religion is because I was a persecuted Christian in another life, and also that i may have drowned in yet another one because i really don't like to be on the water or in a swimming pool or at a shoreline.- (Possibly because I once tried to walk on water in another one of these lives, and this proved to be a monumental failure.) Or have i yet to sort out what my purpose for being in this life is. It may be to strengthen the faith of others because anytime i get into a discussion with religious people they are very challenged to defend their views, and this, in turn, can make their faith stronger. I recently had a lengthy discussion with my niece who is a born-again Christian, admittedly "high on Jesus" (her current "addiction"). She ended up crying after being unable to convert me, but she said i just made her more determined to hold on to her beliefs. This was when i got the idea that this could be my purpose in this life because up to that experience 2 days ago, i really had no clue as to what my purpose was for being here this time asround. i honestly couldn't see any situation where i'd had a major impact on anyone. (Maybe i taught that Sara bitch how to hate. She certainly taught me that. She really became the first person I'd ever encountered who embodied every trait that i abhor in someone. Hummmmm. It just occurs to me as i am writing this, that we may have been adversaries in another life. What is also flowing into my thoughts as i write this is that my purpose this time around could also be to experience motherhood because i have 5 kids but, as i said, i am not particularly maternal. My disgust with and visceral dislike of the people surrounding Trump, and my total lack of respect for him, not to mention my disappointment with Democratic wimps, may manifest themselves in my next life and inspire me to be an Anarchist. I definitely believe that being a scribe is a constant in my journey because writing is something that is second nature to me. i thought my days of being an author were done, but i had the draft of an old novel saved on my computer's word processor and when i just happened to come across it while looking for the saved akashic material, i started reading the draft over. i became so engrossed that i felt a compulsion to rewrite and up date it and have been furiously doing this. What the final disposition of this manuscript will be i don't know. All i know is that i am driven to resurrect this work, almost as if its characters came to life and demanded that i give them a chance to see the light of day... My 14-month old- great granddaughter came to visit me on Mothers Day and she is starting to develop a distinct personality. After all the flurry that accompanied her arrival died down, she got around to interacting with me. We locked eyes for an eternity of a moment and there was recognition there as she began to laugh and laugh - and then i did, too. (We once had fun together somewhere in time. ) The light of her purity is helping me to experienced love in my quest to embrace the truth, love and light that are among the components of the akashic undertaking. Just some thoughts... that were flowing into my consciousness as i wrote this.

@TroyWell, "natural" is sort of an ambiguous term. In the first picture, to me, Viola looks excited about something and that's a natural state. Her hair is not in its natural state, although its style is a traditional one that African American women have adopted over many years. There is no such thing as natural make-up; that's an oxymoron. So, technically, the words "make-up" and "natural" are antonyms. Red is not the natural color of any woman's lips and lipstick of that color can look garish on dark skinned black women as well as sallow skinned white ones. In the second picture, Viola's hair is natural but it has been trimmed and groomed to look neat instead of wild or wiry so it is not untouched. She is wearing lipstick, mascara, blush and eyebrow pencil, all of which are flattering to her complexion but she is, nonetheless, made-up, and not in her pristine natural state. As far as the color of her outfit, calling it an "earth-tone" is the vernacular of the fashion industry. Its color is dull brown and does nothing for her. My answer to your vague question is that Viola looks "better" in the second picture because she has been put together better. She comes out of so many bags, we have to ask "will the real Viola Davis please stand up" so we can decide how she appears when she considers herself in a natural mode. Are magazine covers an arena for racism or are they insensitive depictions of people by those who don't realize they are insulting to blacks or other minorities. If they are deliberately racist then people are free to speak out about this and even demand an apology. In regard to the cover of Lebron James, he's apparently insensitive, too, or such a dumb jock that he doesn't know he's being substituted for the giant gorilla King Kong! I guess for me,racism is such a given in this country that It becomes an afterthought. it is also a label that's too convenient to adopt in lieu of giving an in depth argument about a subject. Del makes some good points about racism in regard to this discussion

In the first place, little of what you say is true about the relationship I have with my sons, so it's hard to put myself in the scenario you have "concocted". My 3 sons use Mother's Day and may even depend on it as an occasion to make up for their ongoing lapses, and i appreciate that. i know it sounds odd but it's like me and my kids have kinda outgrown each other. We're more like siblings. But on Mother's Day we all "make nice".